Mike: Yes, CLEOPATRA was a four hour movie (including intermission.) I finally saw it a week or two afterwards. I don’t recall if we made it to another movie that night. I’d have to check the ads to see what was playing at the Florida and the Tampa. That might clue me in on whether or not we saw another film. Hard to believe that was 48 years ago!

The long-awaited “CLEOPATRA” opens at the Palace on April 15, 1964. Two friends and I stood in a very long line waiting to buy tickets on a Friday evening. Just as we were approaching the box-office they sold out! And there were still about 200 people behind us:View link

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! “THE SOUND OF MUSIC” reaches a milestone one full year of showings on April 6, 1966. Unprecedented in Tampa theatre history. The film would run for another 5 months. The one year anniversay celebration featured skylights, music by Mary Help of Christians School Band, free orchid corsages for the first 200 ladies, and free birthday cake:View link

Dick: Your post on the Saturday morning shows of late 40s and early 50s sounds like great fun! I was around during the early 50s but unfortunately too young to be aware of movies and theatres. But I do remember the kiddie shows several theatres had every Saturday morning in the late 50s and early 60s. Fun times!

Your mention of these bring to mind the special appreciation shows the Palace Theatre occasionally had for kids who were school patrols. I think these shows were also on a Saturday morning. I was never a patrol but a friend of mine was and he invited me one Saturday. Made me feel sorta out-of-place since nearly everyone there was a patrol proudly displaying their badge except me. Following a special stage presentation they ran the feature film “Yellowstone Kelly” along with a cartoon or comedy. If kids today only knew what they missed!

Mike: Yes, once again I’m back. I don’t think I’ve been on CT since before Christmas. Time to catch up now so keep an eye out!

Around the late 1940s-early 1950s, every Saturday morning Tampa’s Palace Theatre had a live children’s show called “The Jack Dew Sealtest Review”, which featured a movie, cartoons, action serial, a live raffle, stage show, etc.

It was broadcast over radio station WDAE (or at least the live stage portion was). It was sponsored by Sealtest Dairies, a major milk and dairy producer of that time. The MC was Jack Dew, a local personality. Admission for children was only 25 cents! I recall I won a pair of roller skates one time on the stage portion.

Television arrived in Tampa in 1953, bringing with it a national TV circus show called the Sealtest Big Top. If the local Jack Dew Sealtest Review had not ceased by this time, no doubt the advent of television brought about its discontinuation.

Mike, No problem…I’ll get a copy of “HOW THE WEST WAS WON” to you. You’ll never see ads like these in the newspapers again for any movie. Hate to say this but I seldom even bother looking at the theatre listings anymore. Hardly anything worth looking at.

Nick, do you think you could make me a copy of “HOW THE WEST WAS WON” i have a nephew who is slap crazy about John Wayne.I could frame it and make a great christmas gift.Last year i gave him a “WAR WARGON” lobby card framed and he said it was his best gift. Just wondering. Great ads I just keep looking over and over,You have a 2001 too i know.not in cinerama in know.

And here’s the opening day ad for “THE SOUND OF MUSIC” which was the biggest attraction to ever play at the Palace. At the time who could have foreseen it would run for one year and five months? The film was presented in 70mm for the first few weeks and in 35mm for the remainder of the run.View link

Great but sad photos Nick,check out the PARAMONT theatre Nashville it has photos of it being torn down,me and one of my Loews buddies took 4 seats out of this theatre as it was being torn down,I do not know what happened to them though.

I’m searching for some information about a Vaudeville show that may have performed at the theatre in the late 1920’s somewhere between 1927-1929. The show was called “Jungleland” which was a traveling contortionist show. If anyone could help out, that would be great.

CORRECTION: The Palace did in fact run a 70mm print of “The Sound of Music” during the first few months of the initial roadshow engagement which opened on April 7, 1965. In my posting of the story above I referred to the opening of the film as “the 35mm roadshow presentation” which I based on the screen masking. This is incorrect.

During my first two or three viewings I distinctly recall the film being projected from the Cinerama booth on the main level. I was just informed by a former operator who had worked at the Palace several times that if the film was projected from this booth it would have been 70mm. The reason for the screen being masked may have been due to a restriction prohibiting non-Cinerama films from utilizing the full screen. Or the possibility that the Palace did not have the optically rectified 70mm lens needed to project the film on the deeply curved screen. Projection with a regular lens would cause the picture to “bow” upward on either side of the screen resulting in a distorted image.

Following the first few months of showings the 70mm print was exchanged for a 35mm print which was projected from the old upstairs booth for the remainder of the engagement. And from this point on the film’s soundtrack was no longer in stereo. Either the 70mm print was needed for an engagement at another theatre or it may have been monetary. Perhaps management no longer wanted to pay for the more expensive 70mm rental rate.

Mike, Yes, it’s sad nearly all the downtown theatres are long gone. I never fail to remember them when I walk or drive by the location where they once stood.

I found out I will need to use a scanner to post photos. My printer also has a built-in scanner but it’s currently not functioning. Hopefully I can get it going soon. In the meantime go ahead and send me your photos and I’ll get ‘em up as soon as I’m able to. No I’m not doing this at work; there’s no way I could do it and get away with it!

Please provide any stories or information that you might have about this theatre (or any single-screen theatre in Tampa) here… http://historictheatresintampa.blogspot.com
This will assist us in preserving the history surrounding these theatres in Tampa. Thank you!!